U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to let rare earth minerals and magnets flow to the United States, a move that could lower tensions between the world's biggest economies.

Donald Trump has said he will visit China after speaking to its leader Xi Jinping over the phone.The US president said he had reciprocated with an invite to the White House during the "very good talk" - though such a trip has not been confirmed by either side.

But there was a discrepancy in the two sides’ statements after the Trump-Xi call on one of the most contentious issues: rare earths, which are needed to make all kinds of advanced technologies and are produced almost entirely in China.